A Gun Owner Perfectly Explains How We Can Reduce Gun Violence With Common Sense

In the wake of last week’s shooting in Oregon which left 10 dead, many gun fanatics are screaming about their Second Amendment rights, and how President Obama wants to confiscate their guns. Despite the fact that the United States has a disproportionate amount of gun violence when compared to other countries, they want you to believe that the only solution is more god and more guns.

Our friend Bobby Cole dropped this truth bomb on Facebook, and we felt that we should share these facts about guns and gun violence with you. With that said, we’re going to go ahead and let Bobby explain further.

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Article 4 of the Constitution guarantees our right to travel. In order to do that with any sort of convenience we have to pass an eye test, written test, and any number of driving tests depending on the type of driving one plans to do before buying a license. If we purchase a vehicle, then we have to pay for liability insurance, state inspections for the vehicle, and pay a tax to use and maintain the roads.

Many medical conditions can restrict and/or prevent someone from conveniently enjoying their right to movement. We do this because motor vehicles are dangerous in the hands of the irresponsible, which is why we take away the right to drive from people who have demonstrated they are not able to operate one in a safe or responsible manner.

The right to keep and bear arms being guaranteed by the Constitution doesn’t mean that purchasing a gun should be as easy as a quick trip to Walmart. Why don’t we require written safety tests, shooting exams, licenses, or liability insurance before trusting someone with a device that’s designed to kill or maim? So what if it makes it inconvenient to purchase a gun?

I’m a gun owner. I’m very well-trained in handling and firing multiple weapons, and I see that training as setting me apart from any schmuck who thinks he can buy an AR-15 with no training and become an instant bad ass. Other gun owners should view each other as members of a brotherhood that not just any asshole can join.

One of the most common retorts from gun fanatics is, “Oh, but making it more difficult to purchase a gun impedes our ability to exercise our Second Amendment right. It’ll punish responsible, law-abiding gun owners.”

No. It won’t. Those who are responsible and law-abiding citizens will suffer the same minimal inconvenience that all responsible, law-abiding drivers go through at the DMV every four years. If waiting around for a couple of hours to get a license is too much responsibility to bear, I have to question how responsible you are when handling a firearm.

This is just one of the many common sense angles we can implement to help curb the ridiculous amount of gun violence in this nation. There’s so much nuance to the situation that volumes and volumes of books can be written. Poverty, mental healthcare and its stigma, the war on drugs, the endless glorification of violence not only by entertainers but by the news media, and our growing lack of empathy for each other are a few other areas that need to be addressed and repaired.

It’ll require time, effort, and money. It’s going to be difficult, but this is no time to be lazy and greedy, looking for one quick fix for multiple problems. Rome is burning and if we just stand by and watch, we deserve to lose everything.

Bobby Cole is a bleeding heart science communicator and reformed Republican from northern Mississippi. Currently trying to finish a degree in biochemistry, Bobby is best known as The Skeptical Beard on Facebook and Twitter where he offers up daily doses of snark and education with the occasional beard-grooming tips.